Abraham Lincoln was born to a poor family in Kentucky on February 12, 1809, and raised mostly in Indiana. He was almost entirely self-taught until he became an adult, when he eventually studied law. He worked in various occupations as a rail-splitter, boatman, storekeeper, and town postmaster before becoming a successful lawyer. He served in the Illinois state legislature and in the US Congress before becoming the 16th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1861, until his death by an assassin’s bullet on April 15, 1865. He was a member of the Whig Party before joining the Republican Party.

Lincoln was vocal about his anti-slavery position. He felt it was the most critical issue facing the nation. In 1858, launching a campaign for the US Senate, he delivered one of his most famous and eloquent speeches, called the “House Divided Speech.” In it, he declared, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. […] It will become all one thing, or all the other.” The foreboding tone reflected the national mood.

Lincoln ran for the presidency two years later in 1860 on an anti-slavery platform that was also not pro-abolition.